does anyone, know if different rainbow fish will school together?
Someone near me is getting rid of following fish.
3 goyder river rainbows
3 bosemani rainbows. 1 beautiful male and two females
1 female turquoise rainbow
and adding these would put me close to limit on my 55 Gallon tank, so i wouldn't be able to add any more fish to relieve their stress.
Any thought would be great.
Thanks in advanced.

SeaHorse

01-08-2013 05:17 PM

YES YES YES .... GO FOR IT!!
Now you haven't said what else is in the tank... can you elaborate? Even if it is close to fully stocked, with good filtration and a steady good water change schedule you should be good.
I have Boesmani, Turq and at one time had Dwarf with them but now I have Congo Tetras. They all school together and race the length of the tank (48").
They are all beautiful community fish. I've never seen the Goyder in person.

Great deal!! I'm jealous!!! I would love to have some boesmani. I have a sole male dwarf neon rainbowfish in my tank with some gold and cherry barbs. I've felt badly since his school "graduated" that he's had to be alone. Are they really schooling fish, or will he be happy with his current buddies.

SeaHorse

01-31-2013 11:18 PM

Well actually they are "shoaling" fish. They enjoy and thrive with others of their own kind. They feel safe as a group and aggression is minimized with more members of the group. "Schooling" is a term for a group of fish that bunch together and swim all together in the same direction at the same time. We've all seen it on TV when a predator fish scrambles the school to pick off the outsiders. Those fish are schooling.
You will not ever see Rainbowfish school.
They will however play tag with the Congo Tetra's if you have any. Racing up and down the tank chasing each other without aggression. That's fun to watch.

Romad

02-01-2013 05:29 AM

That's a great price for those fish. You'll love the rainbows - they're my personal favorite so I'm a little jealous too.

Enjoy.

SeaHorse

02-01-2013 09:59 AM

Ya!! I'm jealous too!! I want to add that... while we make bigger groups for a sense of security and to reduce aggression. Rainbowfish are quite peaceful. You will see some chasing at times tho!
I'm trying to breed them, I can't get enough of them and they are quite expensive here.

fairghum

02-01-2013 09:34 PM

THANK YOU for explaining the difference between schooling and shoaling fish. I had always thought they were the same! Now I can make more intelligent decisions when stocking my tank.

SeaHorse

02-02-2013 01:10 AM

haha. Well Cory's are "shoaling" fish also... people think they "school" too,... but nope!